People all over the world are waking up, speaking up and linking up! In this audio recording from a call with THRIVE Movement staff members, filmmaker Foster Gamble highlights inspiring news stories of citizens uniting around the world, overcoming “Eminent Domain,” funding independent media, and refusing the EU in Iceland.

OK, it’s Good News Tuesday again and I find it particularly appropriate because I’ve just recently learned that President Obama does his drone assassination list in the Oval Office every Tuesday. He renews his hit list and then someone takes that off and makes it happen. So, I think it’s particularly appropriate to counterbalance that with some good news that’s going on in the world.

I want to start this week with what’s going on in Brazil. As many people are seeing, in the mainstream news even, there are millions in the streets in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and other cities. It first started in relation to things like public transportation fare hikes and park closings, but it rapidly seems to have tapped into the emotions of the people and expanded into expressing outrage about inflation, government corruption, banking scams, and lots of other issues. It really seems to be just tapping the discontent that is there.

And, of course, there are forces who will try to take advantage of this or who may have even been involved in provoking some of it intentionally for their own purposes, but there were some polls done in Brazil to find out who was showing up for these protests and here are some of the figures that really touched me: 84% backed no particular political party, 77% have higher education, 22% are students, 53% are under the age of 25, and 71% are first time protestors. I think that says a lot. They were asked why they were protesting and most said that they were protesting increased fares to begin with, but then 40% said they were protesting corruption, 31% against violent repression, and 24% against the politicians.

That’s powerful to see that going on in any country, obviously, but it’s also going on in Turkey, where a very touching thing happened where when the protestors were being scattered by the police, they made a chain, a human chain, of mothers who got together and actually got the police to back off by creating their protective chain. In Bulgaria, even the President praised the weeklong protest rallies against corruption, non-transparency, concentration of media ownership, and a whole bunch of other issues. Anti-austerity protests in Italy are going on and this is obviously reminiscent of the Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and other countries.

So, I think the key thing for me about all this is that worldwide we have the numbers. It’s kind of like Obama’s original election. There was a huge turnout for real hope, real change, for transparency, for non-surveillance, and things like that and even though he didn’t turn out to be what people were hoping for, that hope was real and it’s the same thing in all these other countries. It’s the desire. Even if people are being duped about what the solution is going to be, the desire is real and spreading. Now, we’ve been divided by race and religion and politics and class and gender and all sorts of other means, but what’s happening now is people are beginning to transcend politics and actually look to see “what are the solutions to the problems that are in common to countries all over the world?”

In Brazil, it’s being reported that incumbents and traditional political parties are having to reconsider their strategies and that’s great for what we call at Thrive the Stage 1 Phase of our Solutions Strategy, when we’re trying to bring as much integrity as possible to our existing systems and shrink the government down to just the protection of individual rights and the common. But, what we need to be careful of, I just want to remind people worldwide, is we need to watch out for just installing a new regime, just like happened in Egypt where now, after the big uprising and all the hope, it’s being basically turned into a military dictatorship by Mohamed Morsi over there. And the same thing with the uprisings in Russia and now, Vladimir Putin, former head of the KGB, is now running the country again and limiting liberties all over again.

So, what we’re seeing in these powerful demonstrations all over the world is that the hope is real and that the commitment is real and I believe our challenge is actually to come up with solutions that finally transcend these old political polarities and begin to surface the principles like non-violation, like integrity, like true freedom on which we can base a lasting justice.

So, that’s number one. Let’s go on to other good news.

On a smaller scale, but equally exciting to me, is in Hackensack, New Jersey, just outside of New York, the City Council tried to take away a private citizen’s property, a guy named Michael Monaghan, but with what they call “eminent domain” and that may smack for you as it does for me of the old, so-called, “divine right to rule” or the “manifest destiny” that was claimed by the original American government. Really what it is is just the government making up an excuse to take your property and then, usually, give it to developers who have paid them off. But, in this particular case in Hackensack an Appellate Division of the State Superior Court defended this guy against the City Council and let him keep his property and then, a grass roots group called Citizens For Change won every single seat in the next election throughout the entire City Council even though they were out-funded 2-1. They successfully ran on a platform against costly litigation, against nepotism, against corruption (for instance, the police chief of Hackensack was recently convicted for official misconduct and insurance fraud). This is a little example, but one that’s being replicated fractally all over the planet as people are actually beginning to stand up for their rights and question ”by what authority are you stealing my property?”

Another item that is very exciting to me is that David Icke is responding to popular demand in England and creating his own online TV station and he’s calling it “The People’s Voice” and he’s already got reporters like Sonya Poulton, who was a very popular mainstream reporter who, basically, got suppressed by the mainstream for telling the truth. Luke Rudkowski, from New York. Mike Adams, also from the U.S., the Health Ranger. Max Egan, who I had the opportunity to meet with when I was in Australia who’s a fabulous activist and very informed and a guy named Robert Perala, from the San Francisco Bay area, who was the M.C. at Conspiracy Con where I went a couple of weeks ago, is very aware of a lot of the major agendas and solutions around the world. And so, he (David Icke) posted this online and did an Indiegogo campaign. (He actually started with KickStarter and they wouldn’t take his initiative.) So, he went to Indiegogo, raised the £100,000 in kickoff funds they needed in just 6 days and now they’re almost complete in raising the next £200,000 they feel they need to do a really high-quality job. Once again, it’s starting all over the world. The truth is starting to get out, one way or another.

And then, finally, the last one I want to mention is that Iceland, who I’ve talked about in blogs before, who stood up to their bankers and actually threw out the Rothschild bankers, prosecuted them, got them out of business, and then refused to go along with the IMF and World Bank programs. I was really encouraged by that and then disappointed to hear that they were considering joining the European Union because as far as I’m concerned that’s just putting themselves right back in that same central banking straight jacket because that’s what the purpose of the European Union really was in the first place as far as I can determine. Anyway, it turns out Iceland is on the road to a much stronger recovery than any other European country that’s faced a crisis in recent years and this was a statement from Olafur Grimsson, who is their President. So what’s happened is they have decided to re-think even the decision to join the European Union. They did a poll amongst their citizens and 80% of them said they didn’t want to so they’re actually using the best of democracy and they’ve now dropped out of the talks of doing that and they have now inspired even the U.K. to consider leaving the E.U.

With names in the news like Kristen Meghan and Edward Snowden and Michael Hastings and Tom Drake and Bradley Manning and all these courageous whistleblowers coming forward and really telling the truth about what’s going on, people around the world are beginning to tell their own truth. There are many, many more whistleblowers who are in the process now of coming forward and people are turning their backs on the central bankers, they’re turning their backs on these fake austerity programs, which is basically just justifying the bankers running off with your money and you having to adjust without taking a stand against them, meanwhile giving up not only your money, but your rights to privacy, etc.

The bottom line for me is this is just more evidence that people are waking up and they’re standing up and they’re linking up worldwide.

FOSTER: Hi Folks. Foster and Kimberly Gamble here from THRIVE and we’ve been seeing that all over the world hundreds of millions of people are waking up to what’s really going on and then running into the difficult challenge of “How do I share this information with my friends and still keep my relationships.” And yet, very few people are actually talking about that process, about the frustration, about the loneliness, about the urgency, and about the pain of that. So, people have asked us to share what we’ve been learning about how to share difficult information with your friends without losing the friendships.

KIMBERLY: For me, the most important thing has been to really just accept that unpacking covert agendas is not everybody’s thing. And that doesn’t mean that they aren’t wonderful people and so I think it’s fair to ask and expect that I be respectful that this is part of my path, but it doesn’t mean that it is theirs. And I think the problem happens when those of us who see this growing global police state feel a sense of urgency like “oh, people just need to wake up to this!” but, in fact, being desperate with an agenda to convince people, it doesn’t work.

FOSTER: The second thing we’ve found is to keep it personal. Instead of just dumping a whole bunch of information on someone, share what you’re feeling in the process. I found it effective to talk about what I used to believe and then the new understandings that my research has led me to: the fact that I felt angry as I found out that young people are being sent off to war under false pretenses and the sadness that’s come up for me when I realize that the corrupt global banking system is destroying billions of lives. And then my own fear not only at the thought of my own children and grandchildren growing up in a toxic world under a global police state, but, even very personally, of my fear of losing my own credibility in trying to share about this with the people that I love.

KIMBERLY: It’s really helpful to ask questions instead of imposing conclusions. Sometimes I’ll say, “Do you think it’s a good idea for us to have a financial system that’s run by a private corporation that won’t disclose who its owners are and that won’t even agree to an audit?” Or, “Did you know that a former lobbyist from Monsanto is now the Secretary of Agriculture and I’m concerned about that? How do you feel about it?” Or even, “Did you know that hundreds of former military and government officials have spoken out about the fact that they believe there’s ET/UFO contact happening here on this planet and that there are dozens of other governments that have opened up their records and disclosed this as well and what do you think about that?” And then, actually listen to what the answer is and allow the conversation to flow from there.

FOSTER: Be careful to distinguish facts from interpretation. For instance, in the chemtrails situation, there’s a lot of data that planes are spraying these aerosols and a lot of data about what these chemicals are and how harmful they can be. But in terms of the actual motivations and who is spraying (exactly why and how and so forth), that’s still in the realm of speculation. It hasn’t been proven yet so keep that distinct. In the area of 9/11, the facts and the physics contradict, drastically, the official 9/11 Commission report. But exactly what happened, by whom and why, that’s still in the realm of speculation so we need to be careful to distinguish the one from the other. Otherwise, we lose our credibility.

KIMBERLY: I feel so much more encouraged and empowered now that I understand what is going on instead of just thinking there’s this random human failure. And we found, in the course of making THRIVE, in fact, that it was consistent that people who were the most informed are also the most hopeful. And, I think the other part of that is that as we feel empowered that we can do something about it, that opens up our interest in becoming more informed. And so, to speak from that, I know I was on a plane one time and I picked up the paper and started reading about how air traffic controllers were sleep deprived and overworked and that the planes weren’t being adequately repaired and I just felt like “I do not want to know about this. I’m going to be stuck on the plane for another eight hours and there’s nothing I can do about it.” And I thought, “Oh, this must be how people feel about the state of the world.” And I realized that, for me, I feel like there’s so much that we can do and I’m so aware of people working on solutions everywhere that there’s a problem so that I’m so hopeful about that that when I speak from that, it’s a much more of an invitational conversation than if I’m somehow sharing my absolute fear and desperation.

FOSTER: Timing is everything and Kimberly has been very patient with me as I’ve learned that bedtime is not the ideal opportunity for sharing the next gory detail of how the secret societies, through the shadow government, are taking away our privacy and our rights and our money and all that type of stuff. And I’ve also noticed that this is such a dominant conversation that having it in a social situation where the purpose is celebrating someone’s birthday or an anniversary or a wedding or something like that is probably not the best time to bring up the fact that the Federal Reserve is not actually stabilizing our economy, they’re actually consolidating wealth and power while they’re stealing your hard-earned wages. That doesn’t really honor the intention of the host or hostess for that gathering, so what I’ve found useful is if somebody brings up a provocative point or question or something like that, to just acknowledge it and say, “You know, that’s something I would really love to talk about with you in a different setting so why don’t you give me a call (or I’ll call you) and let’s have lunch where we can go into this without breaking the mood of this particular occasion.”

And one more along the same lines is that we have found that tidbits of information are very risky whereas immersion is really helpful. So, if you just drop on someone all of a sudden, “Hey, did you know that there are devices that can pull energy right out of space. That’s the good news, BUT, you know, it’s all being suppressed, inventors are disappearing and so forth.” You can sound really crazy if that’s out of context. Another example is if you start going on all of a sudden about “THEY are poisoning our food and our water and our air and dumbing down our kids at school” or whatever, it really undermines your credibility if people don’t have a context for that or the immersion in that particular topic. So, what we’ve found most effective is share a DVD like Thrive or the many helpful books and web links that are out there. We’ve got the Resource Tree on the thrivemovement.com website where people can really go and find the references that are very authoritative, third-person fact-checked, and so forth.

KIMBERLY: And then there’s also the inevitable recovery that has to happen from those encounters where it just didn’t go right. You can feel it when it’s just uncomfortable and you’ve alienated somebody or they’re not feeling good about it and I know, for me, it’s just a matter of just stopping and feeling that and acknowledging that that is actually what’s going on. And then, apologizing and asking, “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Can you help me figure out what just went wrong and what I might be able to do in the future to make this more successful?” And, again, I think when we share, then we’re friends again, trying to unpack what happened to the relationship, which is core to this whole thing anyway.

Again, I think it’s that desperation that we need everybody to get it and that that’s probably what went wrong is that we had an agenda in our end of the conversation and to reflect on that and to really work hard, instead, to come from our confidence that we can do this. You know, 6% of the people were involved in the American Revolution and actively engaged and, in fact, billions of people are waking up all over this planet. It doesn’t take everybody to be on the forefront of this. And for those of us who are and we’re going to get out there and do this trial and error with the conversation, we hope that this has been helpful to you and we invite you to please share with us what works and doesn’t work for you at www.thrivemovement.com. Just go ahead and write in to info@thrivemovement.com. We’re in this together.

FOSTER: Good luck!

To stay updated on news from THRIVE and current event analysis from Foster, please join our mailing list.
Visit the site to see more below.

I have spent decades of my life researching what it will take to create a world where everyone can thrive. One of the most compelling insights that I have gained has to do with the fundamental role of “Purpose” in each of our lives…and in all of life.

Watch the video below to learn more about exploring your purpose, and please leave any comments or reflections at the bottom of the page.

Many people wonder if there’s any purpose to life. Arthur Young was the one who pointed out to me that there’s nothing in life which exists except as a function of purpose. Every chair, every machine, every toy was designed and built to fulfill some purpose. Every living thing as well is shaped and functions to fulfill the drive that motivates its existence.

While teaching a seminar on life balance for several years, I collected data from participants on what they saw as their purpose in life. In looking at the whole collection, I saw that the responses fell naturally into an octave of categories:

Listening,

Seeking,

Finding,

Experimenting,

Learning,

Integrating,

Protecting,

and Teaching.

First, we listen inside until we hear an inner calling. When we’re ready, we begin to seek for something yet unknown to us. Eventually, we find something that feels like what we were seeking and we instinctively experiment with what we’ve found to test it out. In the process, we begin to learn what we need to know and then we can integrate this knowledge into our being, into how we live. As we value what we’ve found or created, we naturally protect the whole of it. And as we feel filled and empowered at this new level, we’re pulled to share it or teach it to others.

These stages are also a remarkable match for the powers that Young said are learned at each stage of the reflexive arc of evolution of any process. Potential. Binding. Identity. Combination. Growth. Mobility. Dominion. And then, on to the next octave.

Knowing already that the torus energy pattern surrounds all living things (from atoms and seeds to people and galaxies), it dawned on me that each of these categories are aspects of the toroidal energy cycle. At various times in our lives, we may focus on different aspects of this spectrum, but each is a part of the whole. I believe our purpose is represented best by the whole torus dynamic and the spin axis is a critical part of it. It represents not only the integrity (the truth and resonance of being fully aligned with one’s inner guidance), but also the direction, the inexorable pull of growth of evolving our spark of consciousness through each experience of living and of learning.

To stay updated on news from THRIVE and current event analysis from Foster, please join our mailing list.

By Foster GambleThis video clip on “re-creation” is part of a series of the most important core insights from my lifetime quest for what it will take to actually thrive.

What is “re-creation”? It doesn’t refer to hobbies and playtime. It’s the technique of fully infusing your conscious awareness into the essence of a block or conflict in a way that releases it and allows the inhibited energy to naturally move to the next level.

I can’t overstate the importance of this insight and skill in creating harmonious and fulfilling relationships — including with ourselves.

Watch the video below to learn more about it, and please leave any comments or reflections at the bottom of the page.

One of the most important insights I’ve learned about is the principle of re-creation. When we re-create in our consciousness the way something truly is, it tends to disappear and the energy moves to the next level. Here are some examples:

When you really listen to what someone is saying, their need to communicate it goes away and the conversation moves to the next level.

When a good massage therapist stimulates a tight, sore spot in your body just enough to help fully bring your attention there, the knot tends to dissolve away, freeing the energy flow once again.

If someone is attacking you physically and you re-create their attack (as in Aikido) by moving into alignment with it instead of resisting, the impact of the attack disappears and you can have the power to lead the energy where you want it to go.
When bullies are finally seen as afraid and insecure, they begin to lose their power of intimidation.

When we re-create through bio-mimicry how nature sustains healthy living systems, we can steward a thriving planet.

When we re-create the fundamental energy pattern of the universe technologically, we can tap abundant, clean, and safe energy. As we identify the money scam and the Global Domination Agenda, it begins to lose its ability to deceive, manipulate, and control us. Our recognition and effective response function as re-creation so we can withdraw our agreement and our resources and set ourselves free to create a true and thriving world.

By Foster GambleWhen difficulties arise, our emotions are affected. It is common to resist our feelings, especially the uncomfortable ones, because they can hurt and it can seem that if we let ourselves really feel the fear, or sadness or anger…it might never stop.But the truth is just the opposite. Feeling our feelings skillfully and responsibly is an absolutely vital part of liberating our selves and truly connecting with others.

Check out the video below to learn more about how you can support emotional well-being, and feel free to share any reflections at the bottom of the page.

Foster:
Emotion is a key aspect of the life force — that which motivates us. Looking at emotional dynamics through the lens of aikido energy awareness, I learned that while emotions can alert us to situations that need our immediate attention and action, they are often triggered by some inaccurate belief like “I’m worthless” or “I’m unlovable”. When we are centered emotionally, as well as physically, life energy pours effortlessly though our bodies. Then, when we’re alerted to a potential danger, it releases extra energy to prepare for potential fleeing, fighting, or other high performance requirement.

If we contract against it, it’s like squeezing on a balloon or a hose and we feel an over-stimulation in the belly that we call fear. We are conditioned to think fear is the problem — that it’s bad — and so we fight against it as if it were an enemy.
Practicing aikido showed me that resistance to a force, in this case an alert, starts the problem. Look at how so many of the so-called “world leaders” seem to be struggling to suppress their own fear and then taking that same strategy of deception and domination into critical international situations. Fighting against the stimulation we call fear seems to further contract the energy system, moving the over-stimulation up into the chest where we experience it as sadness and a sense of loss. Many modern cultures discourage the free expression of sadness, especially for men. We’re supposed to keep a stiff upper lip, be strong, be a man. Yet, if we resist this experience, it further stifles the flow of motive energy, squeezing it up into the head where it creates the vibration we call anger. We can experience anger without having to take it out irresponsibly on anyone. If, instead, we repress it, our vital energy is contracted right out the top of our heads and our energy body starts to disconnect from our physical body as apathy, which can lead to depression — literally, the depressing of our vital force.

So, what’s the key to unlocking this process? As in aikido, blending with the force. People, generally, come out of depression, not into joy, but into the anger that was their last connection to their body. Allowing the vibration of anger without force or inappropriate action allows it to disappear. Then, the sadness will tend to re-emerge. And, if we can stay centered in the experience of sadness, it, too, can dissipate, like a completed yawn, into the original feeling of fear. As we learn to let go of tightening against what we call fear, it, too, can evaporate, restoring the center of our emotional vortex to its natural alignment with the center of our being. This can be not only a relief, but a profound opportunity, often unveiling the initial triggering thought. This can be a moment for revising some skewed belief and better aligning it with our true nature. Then, our emotional energy can rise up once again up the spine, this time as vitalizing expansion rather than destructive contraction. Our centered torus field can expand to amplify the energy in the belly as excitement. Then, including the heart area as enthusiasm and on to the throat and face as radiant joy. Finally, transcending the boundaries of the physical and infusing the whole body with transcendent bliss.

Such a state may not be ideal for driving or usual social interactions, but it’s magnificent for healing and for intuitive insight. Understanding this functioning of emotion can encourage us to be more open to experience our feelings responsibly, to relax our bodies, and to free our minds, returning our energy to a centered state, allowing the natural breathing of our organism to fuel its energy and creativity.

We have identified 12 Sectors that cover all areas of human activity, and they are all interconnected. By identifying key problems in each of these Sectors and coming up with solutions that will be good for all of them, we can begin to create a thriving world.

Your Sector Navigator tool (at the bottom of each page) is designed to help you look into any of these key areas with increased awareness of both their impact and their interrelatedness. The center of the Navigator is “Worldview” because how we see the world – what we believe to be true - determines how we experience everything that happens within and around us.

Within each Sector you can explore Critical Issues, Vital Data, Navigating Insights, Solutions Strategies, Success Stories, Everyday Actions, and more. Check out your particular areas of interest. Expand out to explore new ones and see how they are all part of a seamless, whole system.

I love debunkers — the REAL ones. I am a rational skeptic and I know a dedicated and skillful debunker can save us all time and help keep us from being duped yet again in dangerous and impactful ways. The problem is finding and identifying the real ones in a murky sea of fake naysayers and hating trolls with a hidden and biased agenda that does not prioritize truth.

We are living in an unprecedented era where one person or a small team can use independent and alternative media to communicate key perspectives to millions of people worldwide — in a short amount of time. Given what we are dealing with in the way of planetary demise, this is a really good thing!The flip side, however, is that someone with very little real expertise can undermine valuable inquiry and healthy skepticism. I met one man who said he was going to watch THRIVE, but then changed his mind when he saw that it “had been debunked.” I asked if the debunking had made sense to him. “Oh I didn’t actually read it. I just saw it had been debunked.” My immediate reaction was a punch in the gut. How often are people throwing away or discrediting years of valuable fact-checked research on the grounds of a baseless attack?

Most importantly, why is that and how do we get good at sorting out the truth?

LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES

If you are challenging the dominant paradigm as peddled in the corporate media and your influence is expanding, debunkers will enter your life. It goes with the territory. One of our seasoned advisors, a successful whistleblower who has survived one wringer after another, told us before THRIVE came out, “You’re going to get it from all sides, and if you’re not taking flak, you’re probably not over the target yet.”

I want to offer some of what we have learned about debunkers, detractors, haters and trolls in relation to THRIVE.

Who are they?

Why do they do what they do?

How can we recognize and deal with them effectively?

And why bother?

An accurate assessment of what’s going on is critical if we want to create effective solutions. If we don’t have a true understanding of the problem, we won’t put our attention on the innovations that can best meet the challenges we face. So debunking the debunkers has a huge payoff. It helps us to sleuth out factual truth and create a safe environment from which to engage in meaningful public dialogue and transform our world into one that actually works for everyone.
HOGWASH AND HOOEY, BALONEY AND BULL

I looked it up, and “bunk” is short for “bunkum.” It’s an old word from 19th century America that means “nonsense.” Other dictionary synonyms are “baloney, rot, hogwash, applesauce, bull, and hooey.” So when a group like snopes.com spends serious time and rigor separating the fabricated hogwash and hooey from facts and realities on the Internet, it’s a valuable service. Wikipedia used to be helpful, but is now so co-opted on virtually every controversial issue, that its merit has been severely undermined for important topics that challenge major money or control interests.
THE FED AND ETs

I remember the first time I heard (from my son!) that the Federal Reserve was a private corporation and that no government agency could overrule their actions. I found it hard to believe and went on the Internet to look it up. At the time, there were very few sites addressing this issue, and many of them just discredited anyone questioning the reality or wisdom of the Fed’s printing money out of nothing. I came away not knowing what to think. Fortunately, my son kept giving me more and more evidence. The same thing happened when I first heard about the military covering up their involvement with UFOs. The notion seemed far-fetched to me when I first heard about it, and by the time I made it through the first debunking sites, I would have been pretty skeptical that there was any real issue to discover there were it not for the dedication of a few individuals to wake me up.

Fast forward to 2014, where we now have over 36 million sites addressing the issue of the Federal Reserve, many of which are intelligent analyses and critiques of a corrupt system of counterfeit finance that has left the country and an alarming percentage of its citizens in debt slavery. It’s an acknowledged fact that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (known as the BRICS countries) have now formed their own bank to bypass the stranglehold of the Federal Reserve and the World Bank, and people from all walks of life acknowledge the corruption of the system and the need to get out from under it.

What happened? What did it take to overcome a disinformation campaign and legitimize once-denied information and insight? My guess is that it took persistence, and a lot of people with a strong enough desire to get to the truth that simple mudslinging and cheap dismissals weren’t enough to squelch their questioning…despite the discomfort.

CHALLENGING THE SYSTEM

By the time we made THRIVE, Kimberly and I had both experienced the discomfort of asking socially-taboo questions and looking into controversial topics enough to recognize the power of disinformation campaigns. We suspected we would be the target of some likely disinformation and reputation-bashing when we released THRIVE. And of course, that turned out to be true.

THRIVE covers at least 14 topics that stretch the status quo. For most people, there is at least one theme that’s challenging to consider. But in the nearly three years since its release, there is not a single fact in THRIVE that has been disproven. And yet the debunking of our film was rampant in its early days.Now, virtually everything and everyone who is effectively challenging the banking elite’s agenda for global control will have sites or trolls actively debunking them and their message.

WHO ARE THE DEBUNKERS?

First, let me say again that there are skillful truth-seeking “debunking” sites whose priority seems to be accuracy and they seem to get it right almost all the time. And then there are hired hands who work for the government, for corporations, the intelligence agencies, the military and political parties. I have been assured of this by people formerly on the inside and here is a video clip that documents and verifies some of this.

These cyber mercenaries are called “trolls” perhaps because their behavior resembles the mythical mini-beasts who live under bridges and hassle innocent passers-by.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THEIR STRATEGIES?

When working for these types of groups, their job is to find anything that might undermine the credibility and propaganda of their institutions and then attack the content — with either:

Disinformation.

Distraction.

Outright lies.

Trying to smear the credibility of the truth-teller.If none of that is effective, the next tactic is to make it unpleasant and unsafe for anyone to make positive comments, effectively.

Scaring enthusiasts away from the site or thread altogether.

HOW CAN WE IDENTIFY THEM?

Vicious attacks against the person who is providing the information rather than the facts themselves.

Name-calling and mud-slinging with no evidence.

Malicious disregard for the value of public debate and discussion, as if to question or bring up an alternative view is to be shunned.

No proposed solutions to the problem being discussed.

Lack of facts or rational logic to support their argument.

Some real examples from our experience:

And this from our cannabis healing blog from last week, that had over 100,000 views in the first 24 hours:

Notice the one eye in the THRIVE poster? It’s proof that Gamble is an Illuminati corporate shill!

Oh No! Not the Elite Minority! UFO's, Free energy, NWO, Crop Circles, Chariots of the gods. This Documentary has all the BS rolled into one. All it needs is antivaxers and 9/11 truthers to be complete!

Anybody buying this pile of crap is too stupid to deserve to exist. Eat s—t and die!

Thrive = Procter and gamble = elite = fluoridation = deceipt. [sic]

Attacking someone for their references, with a guilt by association campaign.This came up a lot for us. THRIVE was never intended to be a political movie, so we had no concern for the political affiliation or lack thereof of any of the people we interviewed. Debunkers on the Left would say:

“Did you know they interviewed Ed Griffin and he was a John Bircher?”

While people on the Right would say:

“Did you know they interviewed Deepak Chopra and he is a complete liberal?”

While still others would say:

“They interviewed David Icke and he talks about reptilian ETs.”
(So his decades of documented research about the banking families must be useless?)

What if instead we consider the fact that THRIVE transcends political party politics and offers solutions based on principles that empower people globally? Since when does a reliable resource for information and insight have to be someone with whom you agree 100%?

If we are going to create meaningful solutions, then we need to listen for truth and documented information even if it comes from someone with whom we have other differences of opinion. And why dismiss someone with a vengeance because they have a different worldview?

The vehemence is often a sign of the debunker’s lack of legitimacy. Anyone serious about engaging in true discourse and finding real solutions can figure out a way to challenge respectfully and with evidence of a legitimate alternative perspective.

Another sign of intentionally misleading debunkers is their:

Tendency to operate anonymously.

If you go to the website or Facebook page (if they have one) of these type of commenters…

Their identity is often obviously contrived.

They have little or no biography.

Virtually no friends.

Their face is obscured in pictures.

Often their names are straight from central casting like: Muertos, CraveHell666 or Arturo******* (seriously…these are genuine!)

WHY ARE THEY SPENDING THEIR TIME THIS WAY?

In addition to those who get paid to do this, there are, of course, scads of lonely, frustrated, abused, duped, dumbed-down, medicated people who just vent their unexpressed anger through their keyboard in the middle of the night. They hide in the shadows of anonymity and vent against any target, particularly if a person or project seems to be having some of the success and influence that they have not been able to achieve.

We have noticed that the level of self-responsibility seems correlated with the level of anonymity of the one commenting — how much needs to be disclosed to have a commenting account. It’s lowest on YouTube, a little higher on Facebook, and highest of all on our own website.
HOW CAN WE DEAL WITH THEM EFFECTIVELY?

Sometimes trolls and haters are best ignored. When they don’t attract much attention or achieve their desired effect, they often give up or move on to where they might. Other times, I find they must be called out and confronted directly with facts and especially with pointed questions. Usually they leave rather than have to think, research or admit they were making stuff up.

“Muertos,” the anonymous source behind the “THRIVE — Debunked” website, fit all the above criteria for being a hired troll. The conversations on his site began to expose and accuse him of this. Rather than issue a denial, he tried to deflect their accusations by instead inviting people on his site to take a poll of how many thought he was a troll. What? After a year, he announced the demise of the Thrive Movement, even though the film was still having over a million views a month and hundreds of solution groups were forming around the world in response to the coherence the film and website provided. In truth, it was his site that he closed down within days. Of course the remnants live on in search engines to confuse those who are uninformed about the nature of these distractions.

One site posted a scathing review of THRIVE that turned out to be based only on the trailer. The author hadn’t even seen the movie. To their credit, when I addressed the irresponsibility of this act on their comment board, they watched the movie, invited me for an interview, apologized and publicly mended the breach.

Others discredited us for being one political party or another — truly it came from all sides equally because we are not politically affiliated. Others completely ignored the transition strategies that we outlined in the movie and on the website and accused us of being elitists who don’t care about people because we do not believe increasing taxes is a sustainable solution.

Some have attacked me simply because one of my ancestors started a company that provided me with some inheritance. When challenged for being from a wealthy family, I have asked would-be debunkers, “If you won the lottery and suddenly became a millionaire, what would you do with the money to better our chances of thriving?” Some genuine inquirers have engaged the question creatively.

Another popular Internet radio host, who has acknowledged that he disseminates information for the government, launched into a completely false attack on me during a panel at a large conference. I was elsewhere giving my presentation, but someone who knows me was present and confronted him with facts while pointing out his divisive tone. To his credit, when I confronted him respectfully, but firmly, he apologized. I went on his show with the agreement I could address all the falsehoods. His listeners were very supportive and the incident was healed.

The lesson I have gained is that sometimes, when we have confronted the debunkers without malice or personal attack, but with clarity, we have often been able to raise the level of interaction.

We have been especially gratified and encouraged to see our own vast and diverse network responding intelligently, knowledgeably and, in most cases, respectfully, to mitigate or drive away cruel, uninformed attacks. At this point, there are very few trolls who spend much time commenting on our movie or movement in negative ways, because the facts have spoken for themselves, our reputations and integrity have held up to extreme scrutiny and our network is discerning and protective.
FINALLY

We each need to seek truth and live with integrity to be ultimately unassailable.

I learned from training and teaching the non-violent martial art of Aikido and from being a conflict resolutions facilitator in Silicon Valley that when confronted by an attacker, it is possible to respond non-violently by either DISENGAGING from the energy, or — if it is persistent and won’t go away — by IMMOBILIZING it with exposure and truth.

Sometimes we must be pro-active and strategic to make sure the lie doesn’t get perceived and repeated as truth. We can turn their own aggression back on the perpetrators — nonviolently — assuring that consequence clarifies their own choice of falsehood or truth, pain or love. This way we can model what we are after, while honoring the essential and courageous work that is called for to expose the true nature of the problems we face and cultivate the discerning open-mindedness that real solutions require.

Please let us know your insights with this troll and debunking challenge and what has worked for you in dealing with it.

VISION : A world where each person is free to experience directly his/her own unique sense of their inner spiritual nature without coercion or suppression.

Danger : A one-world authoritarian government or any particular religion becomes so powerful that they suppress the natural choice of any individual to freely experience their unique experience of spirituality.

Opportunity : Humans experience their spiritual nature as so interconnected with all species and with life itself, that war, deprivation and corruption become faint memories of a bygone era in the evolving consciousness of life on planet Earth and beyond.

(Source unknown)

This essay is not intended to be a comprehensive archive on religious traditions or an exhaustive metaphysical treatise. Instead I am hoping to identify a few key experiences that humans seem to share, and some key principles in this realm that might help us navigate a sustainable and thriving journey on Planet Earth as it spirals through the cosmos.

(Source unknown)

Since we are suggesting that Spirituality is one of the key Sectors of human activity, it is important to inquire, “What then is this so-called ‘spirit’ that is presumed to be at the core of it?”

Here is one way that the rational led me to the mystical. Consider this:

If we observe ourselves to see who we are, in a very practical way, then we see a body, made up of cells, made up of molecules, made up of atoms, made up mostly of “empty space” with some sort of little “particles” — that seem not to be billiard balls, but more accurately whirlpools in a continuous sea of energy.So what is cohering the trillions and trillions of whirlpools that make up one of our bodies? Virtually every cell in your body did not even exist seven years ago, yet “you” have been here throughout your life, so at least part of “you” must somehow be beyond the physical realm.

So who is this “you” who has taken birth, who heals your cuts and bruises, speaks to you inside as you are considering decisions, and stands in awe beneath the stars?

(Source unknown)

Even logic and science point to the notion that who each of us is in our essence is beyond material or “meta-physical.” So there is a strong likelihood that “we” travel on in different vibrational realms beyond the demise of the body.

There is a common phrase: “The only two things that are certain are Death and Taxes.”

Through the lens of THRIVE, even those can seem not so sure!

Here is where people start reaching for words like God, Allah, Yahweh, Divine, Atman and…Spirit.

One simple definition for “spirit” is “a sense of self and of a relationship with that which is greater than self.”

I want to suggest a hierarchy of distinctions expanding out in scale from our physical bodies, to our personalities, to our minds, to cosmic consciousness. When we go to pick up a glass, the thought comes first and the intention organizes the arm and hand into action. So what if rather than physical beings, occasionally having a spiritual experience, we are actually spiritual beings having a physical experience? What if we have a body, rather than being encased by one?

When it comes to religion, I honor everyone’s right to believe whatever they want, but not to do others harm, even if their belief says it’s OK. After the “state,” the “church” is the second most destructive institution in recorded history. Think of the suffering, hatred and death associated with the words Crusades, Inquisitions, witch hunts, heretics, burnings at the stake, Arabs vs. Jews, Catholics vs. Protestants, Hindus vs. Muslims and on and on.

In trying to look to the essence of traditional religions, I like to picture myself visiting from another planet and going region to region, not understanding any language, and seeing people gathering in beautiful architectural structures, quietly contemplating, singing, burning incense, being kind to one another.

There is some sort of experience being sought by the individuals in these gatherings that is beyond borders, race, gender, class or creed. I think it’s something like tuning our small “s” selves to our large “S” Selves...quieting the noise of our personalities so the signal of purpose, of our connection to a larger sense of Spirit can ring out and fill our experience with a sense of belonging, radiance and joy.

Most traditional religions have a creed that is literally “unbelievable.” Virgin births, walking on water, talking snakes, parting seas, vengeful scourges, magic oils, immortal old white men sitting on clouds judging everyone…so people are asked to suspend their thinking and just “have faith.” And if we do, we run the risk of entering what Stefan Molyneux calls the “null zone,” where we subjugate ourselves to another’s ideas and demands — adopting their belief system at the potential expense of our own direct experience. It is actually very similar to how we are supposed to believe in the sanctity and protection of “the State,” despite all evidence to the contrary. It’s no wonder that both religions and the government start their indoctrination at a very early age, and fill it with threats as to what happens if we don’t believe and obey.

In my own quest, I have discovered that, as I clear out whatever blocks I have taken on — at the physical, emotional, mental, and interpersonal levels — my inner essence, my natural spirituality shines forth. I found I did not need to look outside of myself to another person’s beliefs, and especially not their requirements, to get it. It is who I am. I believe what we are looking for is what is looking!

“…if you will stop all searching right now and tell the truth to yourself, you will know what is known in the core of your bones…You will know it with no image of it, no concept of it, no thought of it. You will know it as that which has eternally been here. And you will know it as yourself.”

— Gangaji

Decades of scientific inquiry has led me directly into awe and gratitude for the infinite mysteries of creation that resulted in my being alive, in my being aware that I am here, and in my having the opportunity to discover and follow my purpose and to live and love with humans and all the other amazing species inhabiting Earth and the cosmos. This is the nature of my personal spirituality.

I find it particularly fascinating that the major physical artifact of all of the three biggest western religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — was the Ark of the Covenant. Check the Ancient Cultures section of this site to see how the object of this legend seems to have actually been not a box for magic tablets, nor a phone to the man upstairs, but a device — an electrical capacitor — that tapped the “life force” itself.

I have spent decades studying comparative religions, mysticism, channeling, remote healing, near death and out of body experience, past life phenomena, meditation, brainwave biofeedback, self-hypnosis, Aikido, peak performance in sports and other disciplines. And they all support the notion that we are toroidal energy fields at every scale — holons embedded in an infinite holarchy, each distinct, yet connected with all others and at the center, One.

(Source unknown)

“The self, in a toroidal universe can be both separate and connected with the rest of the universe — a whole for each, but all connected.”

— Arthur Young

The would-be controllers who are perpetrating an agenda to dominate everyone on our planet have a vested interest in our not realizing this sort of thing because self-knowing and self-actualization give us boundless power — as long as we do not use it against others. That power is decentralized, available to everyone — uncontrollable from the outside.

“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”

— Rumi

(Source unknown)

The spiritual essence of the big religions has often been stripped away by financial and political forces to turn the “flock” into blind followers rather than free and independent sources of wisdom and love. This is not to say that people can’t or don’t experience true spiritual awakening and find great inner peace and strength through the guidance of others, including traditional religious guidance. The point is that ultimately no intermediary is necessary and any who become mediators between the source of oneness and our unique selves can become dangerous, as history clearly demonstrates. Our true nature can be regained as we awaken to the boundless energy and compassion in our direct connection with the consciousness of the Universe and with one another.